Jessica Leon

Career fair networking helps finance, operations management major find best fit for employment at Goldman Sachs

Jessica Leon graduated in May 2014 with a double major in finance and operations management. While at UI, she founded the Hispanic Business Student Association in efforts to increase diversity within the College of Business and Economics. She met with multiple Career Services career advisors and attended a total of four career fairs, which she said helped lead to her job success. She received an internship with Goldman Sachs, which led to a full-time position.

“Career Services has helped me in setting up and continuously improving my resume by adding or taking away certain things in order to tailor it specifically to a job. They really work with me, because they give suggestions and then I choose whether to implement the changes or not. I have met with a career advisor multiple times so far. Last time I met with them about negotiating an offer, understanding the benefits, whether it was good for me for my long-term goals and salary. It was very helpful.

For me, resume workshops and career fairs have been the most useful events Career Services has done. Even though I didn’t actually get an internships or job through the fair, I was able to get to know all of the companies targeting UI students and do some networking. I applied for some positions just for practice and to see how many interviews my resume and networking skills could get me, which ended up being three. I definitely recommend students go to the career fairs, even as freshmen, because it gives them more time to network and find out which companies would be a good fit for them.

I highly recommend students come to Career Services and use its resources. Every time I come, I learn something new.”